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The latest news and analysis from The Communist, alongside reports of our activity. For Marxist theory and history, click here.

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Editorial: Cameron’s Big (Business) Society

The biggest cuts in living memory are creating massive opposition
everywhere, even in the leafy Tory shires, as the £81bn of cuts start to
bite. While the Coalition’s austerity policies have been cheered on by
the big business institutions of the IMF and the OECD, rage is bubbling
up amongst ordinary people. No wonder support for the Coalition
government has crashed. Even Cameron has been forced to recognise this:
“It will not make us popular. It will make us unpopular. It will make me
unpopular.”

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Irish election results

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SAT UPDATE: The
picture emerging in the results from yesterday’s Irish General Election
is becoming clearer as the evening goes on. The outcome represents an
historic defeat for Fianna Fáil, the main bourgeois party
in the state. FF have been in power for 61 of the last 79 years. They
have been the largest single party in Dáil Éireann
since 1932 until… today. Although only around a third of seats have
been announced it is clear that FF are destined to come in third place
not far ahead of SF. Fine Gael will become the biggest party for the
first time although they will still fall short of an overall majority.
Labour however has made the biggest strides forward with around 20% of
first preference votes. This is double what the party achieved in 2007.

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London meeting on the Arab revolution

On March 3rd the University of London
Union Marxists will play host to a very special meeting on the
revolutionary events unfolding in the Arab world. Speakers include:
Houzan Mahmoud, the representative of the Organisations of Women’s
Freedom in Iraq and a member of the Worker-Communist Party of Iraq;
Serge Goulart, co-ordinator of the Occupied Factory movement in Brazil;
and Alan Woods, secretary of the International Marxist Tendency.

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Iraq about to join the Arab revolution?

The wave of revolution that started in
Tunisia is now also reaching Iraq, where the Kurdish areas had already
flared up last week. But the protests are not limited to these areas. On
Friday an anti-government rally named the Day of Rage, was organised in
Baghdad and other cities with thousands taking part.

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Egypt – End of the beginning

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The mighty power of revolution has
been demonstrated with the resignation of Mubarak. It has shown that the
staunchest, most vicious and stubborn of despots can be overthrown when
the masses enter the arena of struggle and their resolve becomes
absolute. But the most unique feature of this movement is that even
after the tyrant has gone it refuses to relent.

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Uprising in Libya: Tremble, tyrants!

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Power is rapidly slipping out of the
hands of Muammar Gaddafi, as anti-government protests continue to sweep
the African nation despite a brutal and bloody crackdown. As city after
city falls to the anti-Gaddafi forces his only base is now Tripoli. The
East is in the control of the insurgents and most of the West has fallen
into the hands of the rebels, including cities very close to the
capital.

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Revolutionary Aftershocks… Libya, Bahrain, Algeria …

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In nature an earthquake is followed
by aftershocks. These can be as catastrophic in their effects as the
original explosion. What we are now witnessing is the same phenomenon
in terms of society and politics. The revolutionary earthquake in Egypt
and Tunisia has sent seismic shocks to the most distant parts of the
Arab speaking world. Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Sudan, Bahrain, Jordan,
Iraq, Yemen, Kuwait, Djibouti — the list is growing longer, not by the
day but by the hour.

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Egyptian army manoeuvres in attempt to cut across worker protests

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The Egyptian military top brass have
taken over the running of the country and, while they are promising a
transition to “democracy” at some stage, they are more concerned in the
short term about what they see as “chaos and disorder”. That is, not
just the rallies that have gripped all of Egypt’s major cities, but
something far more dangerous in their view, the growing strike wave.

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London celebrates the Egyptian revolution

Thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday (12th
February) to celebrate the departure of the hated, now former
president, Hosni Mubarak. The gathering was actually called as a
demonstration against the regime and to demand the resignation of
Mubarak. However, events have moved at such a rate that the despot had
tendered his resignation the day the before. Therefore, the event was
now a party in the centre of London to concur with the one in Tahrir
Square.

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Some Egyptian lessons for Iranian revolutionaries

Contrary to what the bourgeois media claim, revolutions
are not made by individual agitators or small groups. They are made by the mass
of people and they are prepared for years by the decay of the old system which is
no longer able to take society forward. On the other hand, when a society is ripe
for revolution, that is, when all the contradictions have accumulated to a critical
degree, a small force can play a large role in the events that are about to
unfold.

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Tunisia: one month on from the overthrow of Ben Ali

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Today (February 14th) marks one month since the
revolutionary overthrow of the hated dictator Ben Ali in Tunisia on
January 14. The last month has been a constant struggle between the
ruling class which wants to return to bourgeois normality and workers
and youth who carried out the revolution and who are struggling to stop
the old regime from trying to make a comeback.

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